Archive for October 27th, 2013

2-Alarm fire in Gurnee, 10-27-13

This from Larry Shapiro:

The Gurnee Fire Department was dispatched for a fire at 17434 W. Walnut early afternoon. Companies found fire in one unit of a six-unit townhouse. The alarm was escalated to a Box Alarm and then to a 2nd Alarm as the fire began to spread to adjacent units. Crews made an aggressive attack and were able to stop the fire before it spread to the end units.

Three firefighters were transported with minor injuries and several residents signed medical releases on the scene.

Mutual aid with engines was from : Beach Park, Grayslake, Mundelein, Waukegan, and Libertyville. Round Lake was due with a truck, Fox Lake with a squad, and a total of four mutual aid ambulances (Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Lake Villa, Long Grove, and Zion) were at the scene to handle rehab and the transports.

Images from the scene include Larry’s and several from area residents or bystanders.

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Fire blows out the second floor window of the unit at 17432 Walnut Lane. chicagoareafire.com photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Jacquie silvestri photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Jacquie silvestri photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Jacquie silvestri photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

A gallery with more images can be viewed HERE.

 

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CFD Class

From Stephen Wilcox:

Chicago FD training class photo

Stephen Wilcox photo

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New radio system for Elgin

This from Chris Ranck:

From CARMA Chicago:

FCC Application 0005972614 – ELGIN, CITY OF
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applAdminAttachments.jsp?applID=7901896#

Action Performed Location Transmitter Address /Area of Operation Latitude, Longitude
Add   1 – Fixed INT OF RT 25 & I-90
ELGIN, IL COOK County
42-03-56.0 N, 088-15-39.0 W
Add   2 – Fixed 777 S STATE ST
ELGIN, IL KANE County
42-00-50.0 N, 088-17-07.0 W
Add   3 – Fixed 2355 College Green Drive
ELGIN, IL KANE County
42-00-51.2 N, 088-20-04.8 W
Add   4 – Fixed 599 SHALES PARKWAY
ELGIN, IL COOK County
42-01-34.4 N, 088-14-08.2 W
Add   5 – Fixed 800′ S OF RT 20 4 M N OF RT 72
HAMPSHIRE, IL KANE County
42-08-50.0 N, 088-30-45.0 W
Add   6 – Fixed IL RT 47 6 MI N OF LILY LAKE
PLATO CENTER, IL KANE County
41-59-22.0 N, 088-28-00.0 W
Add   000851.32500000 1 1 1 FB2 1 100.000 51.300
Add   000851.66250000 1 1 2 FB2 1 100.000 51.300
Add   000853.62500000 1 1 3 FB2 1 100.000 51.300
Add   000854.28750000 1 1 4 FB2 1 100.000 51.300


SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE CITY OF ELGIN, IL. 
REGION 54 FREQUENCY APPLICATION


Section 1 – Service
The City of Elgin submits this application on behalf of its Police and Fire Departments which  will  use  this  system  subject  to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  Starcom21 
Subscription Agreement. Use of this system  will also be made available to other City Agencies.

Section 2 – System Type
This  new  system  will  be  an 8-site  700/800MHz  ASTRO  Project 25  Simulcast System with  a  9  link  Point-to-Point  (PTP)  microwave  backhaul  network  on  the STARCOM21network.  It  will  maintain  the  Grade  of  Service  required  by  the STARCOM21 contract at each of its sites, with 16 dB in-building coverage for the City of Elgin Public Safety Agencies dispatched by its Main and Backup Dispatch Centers. The subscribers will use a combination of both mobile and portable radios. The  City  of  Elgin  has  requested  to  join  STARCOM21  which  will  combine  State frequencies  with  Elgin  frequencies.    Upon  addition  of  these  frequencies  to  the STARCOM21 system the City of Elgin will actively use the Starcom21 system for public safety purposes. The State of Illinois STARCOM21 system is a statewide public safety radio  system  used  and  governed  by  public  safety  entities  throughout  Illinois  and  is managed  by  Motorola  Solutions,  Inc.   Motorola  Solutions,  Inc.  maintains  the  radio infrastructure  of  the  system  and  assists  with  coordination  of  frequencies  into  the STARCOM21 system. Motorola Solutions, Inc. does not own licenses on the system.Elgin also has AutoAid and Mutual Aid partners that can come onto the subsystem  the 
amount of radios which will be included are:
Kane County Office of Emergency Management  –  4 Streamwood FD  –  30 Streamwood PD  –  20  Hoffman  Estates  FD  –  42  Hoffman  Estates  PD  –  30  Bartlett  Fire  Protection 
DIstrict – 38 South Elgin Fire Protection District – 9 Pingree Grove Fire Protection District –  3 Rutland Dundee Fire Protection District  –  3 West Dundee FD  –  2 East Dundee Fire 
Protection District – 2
The future subscribers coming onto the system is projected to be about 125 additional subscribers over the next 5 years. The City of Elgin is requesting that the licenses be granted to enhance the coverage and interoperability with the State of Illinois. This interoperability will provide enhanced public safety operations within this region. Granting these frequency requests will allow the  City  of  Elgin  to  join  the  statewide  STARCOM21  system,  and  allows  Law Enforcement,  Fire,  and  EMS  agencies  to  significantly  improve  their  public  safety 
communications  capabilities.  The  system  is  owned  by  the  vendor;  however,  the subscriber radios (mobiles and portables) and consoles are owned by the City. The City 
of Elgin will license these frequencies in its name for use on the STARCOM21 system.This  system  uses  Motorola’s  ASTRO  25  digital  platform,  an  FDMA  based  technology 
that uses the P25 IMBE vocoder. It supports integrated voice and data applications. 

Section 3 – Intersystem Interoperability
The  new  City  of  Elgin  radio  system  will  have  the  ability  to  interoperate  with  existing public safety agencies using 800 MHz and UHF/ VHF/ low band frequencies. The 800 MHz users will be able to communicate with City of Elgin STARCOM21 system users,  such  as  the  Illinois  State  Police,  via  the  five  NPSPAC  821  Mutual  Aid frequencies. The subscriber units will have the ability to o perate on these channels with analog operation. Interoperability between the City and other agencies on UHF or VHF frequencies can be achieved by having the dispatch operator setup a crosspatch between a talkgroup in the network  and  the  desired  analog  conventional  channel.  Interoperability  between  the existing ISPERN and IREACH frequencies will be accomplished in accordance with the guidelines  outlined  by  each  respective  Governing  Board.   The  Illinois  State  Police  & Motorola  have  identified  specific  STARCOM21  ISPERN  and  IREACH  talkgroups  that will allow for interoperability with VHF ISPERN and IREACH users. City  of  Elgin  subscribers  will  utilize  the  STARCOM21  system  through  talkgroups dedicated to their specific agencies. Existing STARCOM21 users will be  encouraged to enter  into  an  intergovernmental  agreement  that  will  allow  for  the  sharing  of  specified talkgroups to provide for interoperability with other county, state and federal government users. Other  non-City  public  safety  &  local  government  agencies  that  subscribe  to  the STARCOM21 system will be able to interoperate directly with City users.

Section 4 – Channel Loading Factors
These frequencies will be used by 738 units initially. Of these, 409 will be distributed to the  Police  Department  and  329  to  the  Fire  Department.  Since  trunking  technology 
shares  resources  among  all  users,  the  radio  and  microwave  frequencies  the  City of Elgin will add to the STARCOM21 network will also support radio traffic of other network 
subscribers. This includes 1306 State Police, 3492 DuPage County, 8785 Cook County, 1224  Tollway,  and  1166  McHenry  which  include  neighboring  local  government  Public 
Safety Agencies.

Section 5 – Coverage area 
This application includes the necessary 40, 25, and 5 dBu contour maps for the City of Elgin  sites  and  the  current  STARCOM21  sites  located  in  Kane  County.  The  City  is 
requesting additional frequencies to support the microwave sites, which include: Plato, Nessler, Illinois State Police District 2, Shales Water Tank, Elgin Toll, Randall/College 
Green  Water  Tank,  120  S.  State  Street  and  both  the  Main  and  Backup  Dispatch Centers. The  additional  frequencies  are  necessary  to  provide  the  backhaul  network  and  to maintain the Grade of Service for the public safety users of the STARCOM21 system. The contour maps were run on a software program called Hydra. Hydra is an internal use only software program designed and used by Motorola.

Section 6 – Vacated Frequencies Returned
No frequencies are planned to be vacated at this time.

Section 7 – Implementation Schedule
The City of Elgin plans to roll out all subscribers, 738 users, by October of 2013 when the system is fully implemented and on the air

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